Emanuel Beránek Škrdlovice Freeform Vase Model 5987, Uranium Glass, 1959

A sculptural freeform vase from the vintage year when Czech studio glass had its international breakthrough. Model 5987 was designed and hand-blown in 1959 at the glassworks in Škrdlovice, Moravia, led by Emanuel Beránek – in the same series year as the later famous sister model 5988. A turquoise blue core shimmers through a green casing of uranium glass: in daylight, a warm, iridescent aqua-green; under UV light, a strong signal neon green that reveals the characteristic uranium oxide fluorescence. The silhouette is organically free-formed, with a tall, drawn-out tip and a perforated opening on the side – a sculptural object made of glass, created precisely at the moment when Eastern European workshops began to treat the medium as an independent art form.

The vase measures H 21 × W 11 × D 5 cm and appears monumental despite its compact size – solo on a light pedestal, in front of a plain white wall, or as a counterpoint next to a geometric form. The thick, cast glass has a palpable weight in hand; the base is ground flat, and the surface shows the fine tool marks of a hand-crafted free-form shape. The condition is very good, no chips, no cracks. Uranium glass objects from this period are generally safe for decorative purposes, and the fluorescence remains permanent.